Martin Rodbell

Martin Rodbell
(1925 - 1998)

American biochemist who was awarded the 1994 Nobel Prize in Physiology
or Medicine for his discovery in the 1960s of natural signal transducers
called G-proteins that help cells in the body communicate with each
other. He shared the prize with American pharmacologist Alfred G. Gilman,
who later proved Rodbell's hypothesis by isolating the G-protein, which
is so named because it binds to nucleotides called guanosine diphosphate
and guanosine triphosphate, or GDP and GTP.
After graduating from Johns Hopkins University (B.A., 1949) and from
the University of Washington (Ph.D., 1954), Rodbell began his career
as a biochemist at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md.
From 1985 until his retirement in 1994 he worked at the National Institute
of Environmental Health Sciences, near Durham, N.C.

Prior to Rodbell's award-winning research, scientists believed that
only two substances--a hormone receptor and an interior cell enzyme--were
responsible for cellular communication. Rodbell, however, discovered
that the G-protein acted as an intermediate signal transducer between
the two. Despite initial opposition, his theories gained acceptance,
and subsequently more than 20 G-proteins were identified. His research
led to better understanding of many diseases, including cholera, diabetes,
alcoholism, and cancer.